The thing that seems to be filling the stratosphere of business books, LinkedIn posts and talks/conferences under the ‘brand’ umbrella is that, fundamentally, consumer-facing businesses need a purpose. They need to have a story. They need to have real people behind the scenes regardless of company size. They need to be real and keep it real. They need to talk to people at ground level. Luckily for us - and also by accident - we are one of those businesses. I have been asked (please don’t think I’m showing off) on countless occasions to talk about our story to a varying number of audiences ranging from year eight students to Microsoft’s marketing department. Why? Because we have a story that is real. In case you don’t know it, this is it. I got fed up of moving bricks on a building site in the harsh UK winters so decided to go to Oz. When I was there, I found amazing iced coffee. I returned home to find iced coffee, but none of it was any good, so I made my own with the help from my sister Sooz. The end of the beginning. Now, to the beginning of the end…
We are no longer living in a world where you go and buy something, use it and bin it. We are in an environment where there needs to be so much more than the product. Take your favourite golf club for example. The Callaway Big Bertha. You love it because of its name, the cover it comes in, the place it takes you to when you look at it, the smell of freshly mown fairways and the swipe of the club in the breeze. It’s about capturing this. It’s emotional. But then take a ‘new’ line of drinks by an awful energy drink company. They’ll introduce a new product with no real meaning or purpose, only to take up more space or be ‘incremental’ to a category, sold in by a flesh-filled polyester suit hidden behind a curtain of data waffle and pie charts. Wow, are you really going to buy that? One day, cash won’t be the thing that wins over a listing and the brands with real story will prevail. Tesco, one of our customers, is on a similar path to us. It understands that no longer can it sell the big boys’ products alone - it needs to do better.
If you’re thinking of starting a business, don’t do it with dollar signs in your eyes, do it only if you’re hell bent on doing something for you, for the people around you and if you’re really big at thinking, for the planet. Go!
No comments yet